Before:
Now:
Further research reveals this to be one of the smaller tweaks in a major shift of image for 1 Xtra. Not focusing on black music anymore, now it's on RnB and Hip-Hop.
What does everyone else think about this significant mainstream move on 1Xtra?The BBC digital radio station 1Xtra is to drop its "Love Black Music, Love 1Xtra" strapline as part of a move to bring it closer to Radio 1, the first sign of the promised shake-up of the corporation's radio services following the controversial decision to close 6 Music and the Asian Network.
The strapline, which has been in place for more than three years, will be replaced with "Xtra RnB" and "Xtra Hip Hop" to signify the station's place as an urban music offshoot tied to the more mainstream Radio 1. A new logo amalgamating the two brands will also reinforce this position.
The BBC, which confirmed the proposed closure of 6 Music and the Asian Network as part of a wide-ranging strategy review unveiled in February, has pledged to reinvent its digital radio offering around brand extensions of its five main radio networks.
1Xtra's rebrand marks the first stage in what will be an 18-month plan to more closely editorially tie the niche station with Radio 1 and to grow its tiny audience to a "sustainable scale". 1Xtra has fewer listeners than 6 Music, which prompted some to argue that it should be in line for closure instead.
The station already shares one of the BBC's best-known DJs, Tim Westwood, who recently complained on-air that the station's audience was so low that he had been broadcasting "to absolutely nobody for the last three hours ... It's soul-destroying".
Using "R 'n' B" and "Hip Hop" in the new logo was a way of creating a "front door" for the wider musical remit of 1Xtra, the BBC said. 1Xtra offers music from at least nines genres including house, soca, dancehall and dubstep.
"These two genres should act as the front door into the rest of the station, giving the audience a clear message about the core offering and a route in, where we can then inform them of the range of music 1Xtra has to offer," said a spokeswoman for the BBC.
